LOl... give Mark first dibs, it's not on my must have list! Just another convenience option.

 

Hah. I might have to sell it instead of holding it for my bro. Everyone is charging an arm and a leg for this 3rd member job. Gonna need to make some $$$ to be able to pay for the stuff. Lol

 

Very nice tent!! As for the locker install, i could never afford paying that kind of labor. So.... your wanting to install lockers in front and rear, im assuming your ifs front end, or for the straight axle??? Either way as long as you dont remove the pinion gear you should be able to install them yourself fairly easy and if your bearings are ok, you shouldnt have to replace them. i installed my ez locker in my ifs frontend in about 3 hrs including removing the axle from my 4runner (with the engine out...) As far as the rear goes, once you remove the axles, take out the third, you should be able to install your rear on the bench. I took pics on my build thread for my front, still havent put one in the rear, but when i do i plan on doing it myself. I paid $130 for the front locker new, old stock. Its considered a lunchbox locker, not very strong compared to a arb but ok for what im using it for. So anyways if you plan on using your existing ring and pinion you should be able to do it yourself and youd only be out the cost of the lockers, some diff fluid, some gaskets, seals and your time. Not to mention educating yourself then you can be the guy charging mad cash for installs!!

 

I get ya Mark. On the plus side. That blue part on top of the tent is a Rain-fly(i think thats what its called. Juts in case it does rain. But i dont know anything about withstanding 3" of rain lol as for being prepared i hear ya. looks like this past trip you and I were the ones with the most crap. and everybody benefited off all our stuff.to waterproof the truck attachment part i was thinking possibly stretchy ropes.

yea it was a double post. my work computer is so slow i wasnt sure if it uploaded right haha. As for the job they do. That $770 is for the install kit, bearing kit and who knows what else. They pretty much leave that 3rd like new almost.

Lol for spooning! that made me crack up. I'll look into that synthetic stuff you're talking about. We did have a ton of blankets this past trip and it did take up alot of space in the bed of the truck. thanks man. any particular ones?

Will do Grego. I'll let ya know otherwise.

I wouldnt mind doing this myself. But i am not only doing the lockers. I am replacing the 4.10's with 4.88 ring & pinions on both axles. So that wont work for me. trust me. i would love to learn how to do this myself. but this is such a delicate and precise job i really dont wanna screw it up. Especially considering how much $$$ ive already spent and still need to spend. id rather have a professional do it ya get me?

 

Update! today i finished sanding down the 2 leaf springs we started on yesterday. These 2 are RANCHO leafs.
All sanded down:


Nicely primed; 2 coats:


And finally painted:


I think i did a good job on it. I hope it will be good in the end.

 

ahh i see on the re gearing bit. Yea that i havent done for awhile and it is critical and your making a good decision on having it proffesionally done. Curious to see what it costs ya.

 

Yes, the rainfly. Ideally you'd want that to go all the way down to the ground. Main tent material is usually not water-proof (you can tell waterproof material by its urethane coating), so when it rains and it's windy you still stay dry. To waterproof car/tent junction, yes, maybe thread a shock cord through the "hem" (like elastic in pajamas) in orange in pic, to go around and over the shell, put hooks on ends to clip to bottom lip of side bumper.


Re: sleeping bag, you need to anticipate what you plan to do with it. Just load it in car for car camping? OK to get big rectangular bags. Backpack? Get slim fitting mummy with hood for maximum warmth with minimum bulk and weight. Down will further give you reduction in bulk and weight if you need it for very cold weather and you need to carry it.

Temp rating? About 20 degree F would work for most California trip. Because I take mine on winter trips on snow-covered mountains in CA, I chose a Zero-degree down bag. So far it has never failed me.

Re: Gears & lockers,,, Someday I'd like to get both, too. I don't have a garage to work in so I plan to just have the experts do it for me.

BTW, guys, Like I mentioned to Mark, Last Friday on my drive from SD to LA, another driver drove alongside me and held a piece of paper against his driver side window for me to see. It said, "Would You Sell the 4 Runner?" That felt good! Too bad, I did not have a camera ready- Pic would have been on Yotatech now.

 

ooh glossy ...

 

Ray there are 2 layers on that sleeve that attach to the truck rear. The one that you see in the picture is obviously the exterior layer and then another one underneath that has that stretchy material you speak of. The stretchy material hugs the truck and the outer layer( which is about 1 foot longer just helps it a little more i'll try to make a video for you guys. i gotta open up the 2nd tent anyway so i still gotta assemble the tent to see if there are any rips of any kind.

William.Yea it was still glossy. I had just painted it. So in the picture they were still wet.

KornHuskerWizard I am curious to know too. More nervous to how much it'll come out to more then anything. but yea. This will definitely be an eye opener for all the people wanting to SAS such as yourself lol. So many charges and kits i didnt now were needed to do this...

 

Wish I could do em for ya! Ull get it!

 

Good news everyone. I got my 4cyl 8" Spartan locker yesterday. I noticed it's different then the v6 locker. the 4cyl looks like it has more parts to install then the v6.


Now i will be able to start working on this front axle rebuild. Wanna at least take the front 3rd to go get the gears and locker installed. Once i have that completed or while i wait i can begin redoing all the seals gaskets, bearings and painting. pretty much everything else that comes with the Marlin Crawler Axle rebuild kit. I'm actually pretty anxious to finally start this. been looking forward to it for a long time!
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For future reference:
http://forum.ih8mud.com/79-95-toyota...placement.html
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...r-pics-177403/

 

awesome news get after it redeth im cheering ya on

 

Red, I noticed that what I paid for my Spartan Locker has gone up on every website.

I think I paid around $300 give or take a few.

 

There you go. That should keep your junction rain/wind-resistant then.

Nice on the locker, Richard!

Guys,
Would like one installed, too but I think getting it done at the same time as my re-gear would save on labor cost, right?

 

Hey Rad,......

If you have the gears done, u could then do the locker yourself and save quite a bit.

Just MHO.... LOCKER install is far less intimidating than the gear install.

 

Thanks Will. Ill keep you all updated through the progress as best i can.

Yea I remember the price being cheaper a while back too. Maybe I should have bought them back then. lol


The locker install is supposed to be really straight forward and easy. Just take out spider gears and install the locker. Check out the videos on YouTube. All u would need is some more axle fluid. After u close it back up. Only reason I'm waiting is because I already have my gears sobid rather just install everything all at once. Plus I don't plan to go off road again till I get all this handled already. U should be cool with one locker till u decide to regear.

 

Sorry guys not much of an update for today. I wasnt able to get much done but i did wanna show you what i did do and give some advice.
Today i spent about an hour just cleaning up the rust, mud/clay, and paint off this piece and some of the axle itself.
Before:

After:

It's obviously not gonna stay like this and i dont plan to paint it like this either. I plan to run the sander/grinder through a few more times once i remove all the parts so i can get into the nooks n' crannies.

To anybody doing this job or planning to do this. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS! I cant imagine taking these stubborn tie rods off without a "Tie Rod Puller." It was definitely worth every penny out of the $10 i paid. Mark and Grego are my proof on this one. We all had a heck of a time trying to take off a tie rodwhich was attached to my donor steering box at the wilmington ca Pick Ur Part. Once i bought the tool we got it off in like 10 seconds. haha its a night and day difference! so do yourself a favor and buy it!

Its funny, you can definitely tell the difference on my wheel hub/brakes compared to that 1st picture. i was just looking at the pix and was like DAAYYYUMM!!!! big difference lol


It was so hard to remove i had to use my breaker bar pipe to get it loose. Sometimes rust can practically weld stuff together lol


Thats all i was able to get in for today. I only got about an hour and 1/2 work done today. Daylight doesn't last very long out here in SoCal this time of year. I figure while i try to raise enough money to cover the costs for this project i might as well try cleaning up the exterior of the axle as best as i can before i take it apart. Better to have it all prepared and ready for painting while i can. Make my job much easier later on when i remove each piece and clean them up 1 by 1 and paint them individually.

I'll try to get more stuff done tomorrow and hopefully share some more pix!


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....and for future reference
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115...ctures-180536/

 

red.. your hired i expect you to make it here soon to help with the rust on mine

 

Nice, keep at it, buddy! You'll get there quicker than you thought... Just chipping away every minute you can. You wanna be ready when it's time to cut and assemble.... So KEEP KILLIN IT!

YEP, that was a great buy, btw... Already loaned my third one out again and still haven't gotten that one back either... It's like they go around removing peoples pitmans and idlers and tie-rods, RANDOM STRANGERS, JUST FOR FUN! hahaha... I'ma get another that's a NO LOANER through my neighbor... who has a MAC account. He said 20$ through his buddy with his deal.. GOTTA have that in the arsenal!

 

Lol thanks William. that was funny stuff..... oh... wait you're serious?!? lol jk I try to really get down to the metal so when i do paint it i wont have any nasty or visible paint bloches where i didnt take off the old paint ya know.

Thanks for the encouraging words! I'm really tryin' to get as much done in little time possible.
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Talking about getting stuff done; look what i did yesterday.


For the moment i am just using an Ultra high current 4 Gauge power distribution cable made by MONSTER. (It's really just a really thick amplifier power wire).

RAY, do you think that would be sufficient to power everything i would wanna run? it really is a really thick wire. I would like to run some off road lights(possibly 4 or 5), stereo system, and winch.